IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/amposc/v49y2005i4p865-880.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political Choice, Public Policy, and Distributional Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Nathan J. Kelly

Abstract

I address the functioning of the U.S. governing system by analyzing distributional outcomes from 1947 to 2000. The key question is whether public policy influences distributional outcomes. The macropolitics model and power resource theory suggest that left policies should equalize the distribution of income. I utilize single equation error correction models to assess the impact of policy on income inequality through two mechanisms—market conditioning and redistribution. Since nearly every government action influences markets in some way, I examine policy in the aggregate rather than focusing only on policies explicitly designed to redistribute income. The analysis indicates that policy influences inequality through both mechanisms, with left policy producing more equality. The results are consistent with power resource theory and strongly support the macropolitics model. Furthermore, I find that market conditioning is as important as, and works in tandem with, explicit redistribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathan J. Kelly, 2005. "Political Choice, Public Policy, and Distributional Outcomes," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(4), pages 865-880, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:49:y:2005:i:4:p:865-880
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2005.00160.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2005.00160.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2005.00160.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Banerjee, Anindya & Dolado, Juan J. & Galbraith, John W. & Hendry, David, 1993. "Co-integration, Error Correction, and the Econometric Analysis of Non-Stationary Data," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288107.
    2. George J. Borjas & Richard B. Freeman, 1992. "Immigration and the Work Force: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number borj92-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali Kagalwala & Andrew Q. Philips & Guy D. Whitten, 2021. "What About the Rest of the Pie? A Dynamic Compositional Approach to Modeling Inequality," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1534-1552, July.
    2. David Brady & Amie Bostic, 2014. "Paradoxes of social policy: Welfare transfers, relative poverty and redistribution preferences," LIS Working papers 624, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Matthew E.K. Hall, 2017. "Macro Implementation: Testing the Causal Paths from U.S. Macro Policy to Federal Incarceration," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(2), pages 438-455, April.
    4. Jamila Michener, 2023. "Legal Aid and Social Policy: Managing a Political Economy of Scarcity," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 706(1), pages 137-158, March.
    5. Tyler Johnson & David Rossbach, 2015. "Foreign Affairs, Domestic Attention: Explaining American Media Coverage of the European Financial Crisis," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1328-1347, November.
    6. Steven Deller & Craig Maher & Judith Stallmann, 2021. "Do tax and expenditure limitations exacerbate rising income inequality?," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 611-643, November.
    7. Huo, Jingjing, 2015. "How Nations Innovate: The Political Economy of Technological Innovation in Affluent Capitalist Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198735847.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohamed, Hazik & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Stock market comovement among the ASEAN-5 : a causality analysis," MPRA Paper 98781, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. David C. Maré & Steven Stillman, 2010. "The Impact of Immigration on the Geographic Mobility of New Zealanders," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(273), pages 247-259, June.
    3. Janine Aron & John Muellbauer, 2006. "Housing Wealth, Credit Conditions and Consumption," CSAE Working Paper Series 2006-08, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    4. M. T. Alguacil & V. Orts, 2003. "Inward Foreign Direct Investment and Imports in Spain," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 19-38.
    5. Neil R. Ericsson, 2021. "Dynamic Econometrics in Action: A Biography of David F. Hendry," International Finance Discussion Papers 1311, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Ekaterini Panopoulou, 2005. "A Resolution of the Fisher Effect Puzzle: A Comparison of Estimators," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp067, IIIS.
    7. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Viola von Berlepsch, 2012. "When migrants rule: the legacy of mass migration on economic development in the US," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1216, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2012.
    8. Patric H. Hendershott & Bryan D. MacGregor & Raymond Y.C. Tse, 2002. "Estimation of the Rental Adjustment Process," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 30(2), pages 165-183.
    9. Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2005. "Rethinking the Gains from Immigration: Theory and Evidence from the U.S," NBER Working Papers 11672, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Dierk HERZER & Felicitas NOWAK‐LEHMANN D. & Boriss SILIVERSTOVS, 2006. "Export‐Led Growth In Chile: Assessing The Role Of Export Composition In Productivity Growth," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 44(3), pages 306-328, September.
    11. George Kapetanios, 2003. "A New Nonparametric Test of Cointegration Rank," Working Papers 482, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    12. Neumark David, 2019. "The Econometrics and Economics of the Employment Effects of Minimum Wages: Getting from Known Unknowns to Known Knowns," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 293-329, August.
    13. Arslan Razmi, 2007. "The Contractionary Short-Run Effects of Nominal Devaluation in Developing Countries: Some Neglected Nuances," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 577-602.
    14. Bhatta, Siddha Raj, 2011. "Stability of demand for money function in Nepal: A cointegration and error correction modeling approach," MPRA Paper 41404, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Zak, Paul J. & Feng, Yi & Kugler, Jacek, 2002. "Immigration, fertility, and growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 547-576, April.
    16. Sara Lemos, 2007. "Minimum wage effects across the private and public sectors in Brazil," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 700-720.
    17. Douglas Sutherland & Peter Hoeller, 2012. "Debt and Macroeconomic Stability: An Overview of the Literature and Some Empirics," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1006, OECD Publishing.
    18. Gabriella Deborah Legrenzi & Costas Milas, 2010. "Spend-and-Tax Adjustments and the Sustainability of the Government's Intertemporal Budget Constraint," CESifo Working Paper Series 2926, CESifo.
    19. Werner, Heinz, 1996. "Befristete Zuwanderung von ausländischen Arbeitnehmern : dargestellt unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Ost-West-Wanderungen (Temporary migration of foreign workers : described with particular atte," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 29(1), pages 36-53.
    20. Herwartz, Helmut & Neumann, Michael H., 2005. "Bootstrap inference in systems of single equation error correction models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 165-193, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:49:y:2005:i:4:p:865-880. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5907 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.